Tongs come in a variety of configurations and are used to pick up an infinite variety of objects. There are areas of use where sanitary considerations are important. In the food industry, care must be taken to ensure that the tongs used do not contaminate the food. With other uses the concern is exactly the opposite, attempting to prevent the object being picked up from contaminating the tongs.
Attempts have been made to address this problem by making disposable tongs, as is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,055 entitled "Disposable Shovel Tongs" which issued to Green in 1980. It would be preferable, however, if a disposable bag could be used with tongs, so that the bag could be disposed of after each use and not the tongs themselves. There are problems, however, in placing a bag on tongs and maintaining that bag in a position to permit use.